New Zealand-born eco-conscious footwear label Allbirds has expanded into the activewear market, launching its Natural Run collection.
Made from Merino wool and eucalyptus tree fibre, the collection rebels against the industry standard of using polyester in activewear.
"The athletic industry’s 'most valuable player' — polyester — runs on enough oil to power 47,000 cruise ships, and spews 700 million tons of carbon (70 million football fields) into the atmosphere on an annual basis," Allbirds said in a statement.
"It’s even become a permanent fixture on our ocean floors, with 14 million tons of microplastics that break down into smaller and smaller particles, but will never fully disappear.
"Making up 55% of all clothing, polyester’s cheap production cost has made it a go-to for nearly everything we exercise in —from the everyday athlete, to those competing for gold medals.
"The result: in pursuit of our personal bests, activewear’s dependency on oil-based plastic fabrics has left the earth in much worse shape," the brand said.
So after two years of development, 70 iterations and thousands of hours of testing, Allbirds has today launched its debut activewear collection.
The Natural Run collection is the industry's first performance apparel line to be labelled entirely with its carbon footprint ranging from 4.7kg to 14.5kg CO2e, before being 100% offset to zero.
Allbirds added that while it is proud to launch the range, the brand still has a way to go.
"As with all of our products, we packed Natural Run Apparel full of premium natural fibres, designed with carbon consciousness in mind," Allbirds said.
"Natural Run Apparel showcases the performance potential of innovating from nature’s laboratory — activewear designed to move with you, without going against nature.
"We invest our research and development resources into developing low-emission natural alternatives while prioritising recycled resources to fill in the gaps.
"Of course we’re not perfect, which is why we’re working hard to meet our 2025 goal of 75% natural or recycled materials in everything we make by 2025, including this collection," the brand said.
The Natural Run collection spans shorts, leggings, tank tops and tees for men and women.
It is available now and retails for between $70 and $145.